Many female bovids have horns, used to defend food or territories from other females.<\/p>\n

In exactly the same way, female reindeer use their antlers to defend food in small patches\u2028of cleared snow. Those with the largest antlers tend to be socially dominant and in the best overall physical condition.<\/p>\n

Unlike horns, antlers are shed each year. In males, this happens in late autumn, after the rut.<\/p>\n

Related content:\u00a0<\/h4>\n
6 ways reindeer are dapted for extreme cold<\/a><\/li>\n
What\u2019s the difference between horns and antlers?<\/a><\/li>\n
How to identify deer antlers<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>
<\/p><\/div> <\/section>
Females retain their antlers until spring, because access to food is critical during their winter pregnancy. Some scientists therefore argue that Rudolph, who is universally depicted in late December with intact antlers, is female.<\/p>\n
Please note that external videos may contain ads:<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p><em>Top 5 Reindeer Moments \u00a9 BBC Earth<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In fact, most of the reindeer used to pull sleds are castrated males \u2013 they are easier to handle, and have antler cycles similar to those of the females.<\/p>\n<p>Not all females have antlers, however, because growing them costs a lot of energy. In habitats where food is scarce or of poor quality, antlerless females dominate.<\/p>\n<section class=\""highlight\"><div class=\""highlight__content\" editor-content=\"\"> <h4>Learn more about polar wildlife:\u00a0<\/h4>\n<ul><li><a href=\"\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/facts-about-polar-bears\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\">Polar bear guide<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/birds\/facts-about-penguins\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\">Penguins guide<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/holidays-days-out\/antarctica\/iceberg-guide\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\">Iceberg guide<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/people\/wildlife-sustainability-and-cruise-ship-tourism-in-the-arctic\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\">Long Read: Wildlife, sustainability, and cruise ship tourism in the Arctic<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><p> <\/p><\/div> <\/section><hr\/><p>Do you have a wildlife question you\u2019d like answered? Email your question to <a href=\""mailto:wildquestions@immediate.co.uk"\">wildquestions@immediate.co.uk<\/a> or post it to Q&A, <em>BBC Wildlife Magazine<\/em>, Immediate Media Company, Eagle House, Bristol, BS1 4ST.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main image: Female reindeer with calf. \u00a9 Michel Denijs\/Getty<\/em><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Craig Roberts Published: Monday, 29 November 2021 at 12:00 am Males of almost all deer species grow antlers, used to battle for females. But reindeer are the only species in which the females also grow antlers, and an explanation can be found by looking at bovids, a closely related family including antelopes, goats and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":93,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2021\/11\/why-do-female-reindeer-grow-antlers-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2021\/11\/why-do-female-reindeer-grow-antlers-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2021\/11\/why-do-female-reindeer-grow-antlers-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2021\/11\/why-do-female-reindeer-grow-antlers-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2021\/11\/why-do-female-reindeer-grow-antlers-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2021\/11\/why-do-female-reindeer-grow-antlers-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2021\/11\/why-do-female-reindeer-grow-antlers-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Craig Roberts Published: Monday, 29 November 2021 at 12:00 am Males of almost all deer species grow antlers, used to battle for females. But reindeer are the only species in which the females also grow antlers, and an explanation can be found by looking at bovids, a closely related family including antelopes, goats and…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/92"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}